Best SIM Cards For Using Your Smartphone in Europe

If you’re travelling to a European country, you’ll normally pay a surcharge for international roaming. We review the best value SIM cards for using your smartphone in Europe.

Each year, millions of Brits cross the channel and visit mainland Europe for business and leisure. Whether you’re going to Italy for the history and culture or to Spain for the tapas and sun, many of us like to stay connected through our smartphones when travelling abroad.

Being able to use your smartphone abroad is great for staying in touch with your friends and family back home. It’s also useful for navigating around (e.g. for finding restaurants and attractions in the country you’re visiting).

The good news is it’s now really easy and cheap to use your UK smartphone abroad in other European countries. Recent EU legislation has brought down the costs of roaming quite substantially. Deals are also available to cut the costs even further. In this article, we’ll look at the costs of using your smartphone in Europe. We’ll also compare some of the best value deals that can save you more money when you’re travelling abroad.

The Costs Of Using Your Smartphone In Europe

Over the past few years, there’s been a major reduction in the roaming costs for UK residents when travelling to Europe. As long as you’re visiting an EU country, you’ll be protected by EU legislation that sets the maximum amount your mobile network is able to charge you.

As of July 2016, the maximum charge for using your smartphone in Europe is as follows:

Activity

Maximum Charge*

Outgoing phone call

UK price plus 4.7p/minute (and never more than 17.9p/minute)

Incoming phone call

1.0p/minute

Text message (per SMS)

UK price plus 1.8p/text (and never more than 5.6p/text)

Mobile Internet (per MB)

UK price plus 4.7p/MB (and never more than 18.8p/MB)

* The maximum charge only applies for calls, texts and browsing within in the EU. If you’re calling or texting a non-EU number, higher charges will normally apply. The figures above include UK VAT at 20%. See the ‘Future Changes’ section for more information.

While the above table shows the maximum possible charges, the actual amount you’ll be charged will depend on your mobile network and tariff. For more information about the roaming charges on your tariff, please select the mobile network you’re currently using:

Through the rest of this article, we’ll highlight some of the best value deals for using your smartphone abroad in other European countries.

Recommended Deals

For most people travelling inside of Europe, our recommended deal is Three’s All in One 10. Used in conjunction with their Feel At Home offer, a £10 top-up will give you 1GB of data abroad, 3000 text messages and 100 minutes for calling back to the UK.

For heavy users, the All in One 20 deal from Three is also available. This gives you 12GB of data, 3000 texts and 3000 minutes.

As an alternative for shorter trips abroad, it may also be worth considering a Pay As You Go SIM card from O2. For £1.99/day, you’ll get 100MB of data to use anywhere in Europe.

Three’s Feel At Home

An all-round deal: £10/month for 1GB data, 100 minutes & 3000 texts

Three has a ‘Feel At Home’ offer in 34 European countries.

At present, the best value SIM card for travelling in Europe is Three’s All in One SIM. A £10 top-up will give you 1GB of data, 100 minutes and 3000 text messages (your allowances will last for up to 30 days). A £20 top-up will give you 12GB of data, 3000 minutes and 3000 texts (once again, your allowances will last for up to 30 days).

After you buy an All in One bundle, you’ll be able to use it inside the UK and in 34 other European countries as part of the Feel At Home offer. You can also use the SIM card at no extra charge in some other non-EU countries including the USA and Australia (see the full list of inclusive countries below).

You’ll need to buy an All in One bundle if you want to use your allowances abroad (Three’s 321 price plan only applies when you’re in the UK). If you’re a heavy data user, we recommend buying the £20 bundle (this will give you up to 12GB of data to use when abroad).

O2 Travel

For short trips & heavy data usage: £1.99/day for 100MB of EU data

O2 gives you 100MB of EU data for £1.99/day.

If you’re only travelling for a short amount of time and expect to use a large amount of data, our recommended deal is an O2 Pay As You Go SIM card with the O2 Travel offer. The offer gives you 100MB of data to use each day in any EU country. This is for a fixed daily fee of £1.99.

With an O2 Pay As You Go SIM card, a £10 top-up should give you enough credit to use your smartphone abroad in the EU for five days. You can grab a free SIM card to get started on O2. When ordering your SIM card, you should avoid choosing the Big Bundles tariff. This is because the Big Bundles tariff will automatically convert your top-up into a bundle that can only be used in the UK. Instead, you’ll need to choose a tariff that allows you to keep your credit. We recommend choosing either the ‘Simply Pay As You Go’ or International SIM cards.

Unlike with the offer from Three, calling and texting isn’t included in the offer from O2. Instead, you’ll pay 4p/minute for outgoing calls and 1p for every text message you send.

After receiving the SIM card from O2, text TRAVELON to 21300 to opt-in to the offer.

Other EU Roaming Offers

There are a variety of other EU roaming offers also available:

EE: Euro Roaming Data Add-onFor £3/day, customers with a EE Pay As You Go SIM card can use up to 75MB of data in other EU countries.

Vodafone: EuroTraveller
For £3/day, customers with a Vodafone Pay As You Go SIM card can use up to 100MB of data in another EU country.

In addition, there are now some Pay Monthly contracts which come with EU roaming included in the price:

EE: EE Extra Plans
Customers choosing an EE Extra plan will get inclusive minutes and texts when travelling in the EU. Data in the EU is not currently included – you’ll need to pay an additional £3/day for up to 500MB of EU data.

iD Mobile: TakeAway Plans
iD Mobile, the own-brand mobile network from the Carphone Warehouse, provides free roaming in 29 countries when you buy a TakeAway plan. You’ll need to get either a 12-month or 24-month plan.

Future Changes

Maximum EU roaming charges are set by the European Commission. They’ll be scrapped entirely from the 15th June 2017.

Over the past decade, maximum EU roaming charges have been changed on multiple occasions. The maximum charges are set and published by the European Commission. As the maximum charge is stated in Euros, it may differ each year for UK residents. This is due to changes in the EUR/GBP exchange rate. The maximum roaming rates were last updated on the 1st July 2016 using the exchange rate of 1EUR=0.78661GBP.

On the 15th June 2017, all mobile networks will be required to scrap the surcharge for roaming in the EU. This means anyone with inclusive mobile allowances will be able to use them in Europe at no extra charge. For customers without an inclusive allowance (e.g. for customers on a Pay As You Go tariff), maximum charges will remain at 17.9p/minute, 5.6p/text and 18.8p/MB (with a further adjustment due to exchange rate fluctuations).

Other Ways To Get Online

Roaming, as discussed above, is now the most convenient way of getting online in other EU countries. Typically, you should expect to pay around £10 for a trip of up to one month.

Besides roaming, there are also two other ways of getting online when you’re travelling in Europe:

It’s free to get online with wi-fi.

Use free wi-fi networks. Your hotel may provide you with free wi-fi internet. This is perfect for odd tasks at the start and end of each day (e.g. for checking your e-mail and the weather). The downside is you won’t have access to the internet when you’re out and about. This means mapping applications may not work properly and you’ll also miss out on e-mails and chat messages received during the day.

Buy a local SIM card in your destination country. If you’re travelling for more than one month, it may be cheaper and more convenient to pick up a local SIM card in the country you’re visiting. Depending on your destination country, this may involve a little bit of hassle (e.g. knowing the local language and providing a copy of your ID). However, you’ll get a local phone number which will be much more convenient for contacting other people and businesses in that country. Expect to pay about €10/month for a local SIM card. You may also need to unlock your smartphone before leaving the UK. See our in-depth guides to unlocking an iPhone and unlocking a Samsung Galaxy.

Your Comments
214 so far

timsaid:

Hi Ken
thank for this. My UK phone/SIM has stopped working in Italy and I’m here for another week. I’m thinking of buying a new phone, but I’m wondering if my UK SIM will work – ie will it initially connect properly to set itself up?
Tim

Sarahsaid:

Myself and my partner are going on a long-term trip across Europe, without plans to return to our home country, the UK. We are trying to figure out the best way to use our phone and data, but most UK contracts have restrictions on EU roaming (like you said, having to spend more of your allowance in your home country, which of course we won’t be able to). Is there anything you can recommend for a large amount of data that can be used for long term travel within the EU?

Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your comment. To start with, I’d probably just take your UK SIM card out there and continue to use that. Although there are some fair usage policies for using your phone in Europe, they should only kick in after around 2 months and thereafter, you’ll simply be surcharged for your data usage in Europe (with no surcharges for calling and texting). In two months time, you might have a better idea of where you plan to end up staying, in which case, it may then make sense to pick up a local SIM card from that country.
Hope this helps!
Ken

Hi Helga,
Yes – the great news is your O2 Pay & Go SIM card is enabled automatically for international roaming. As of June 2017, you’ll be able to use your phone at no extra charge across Europe (including in Denmark, Sweden and Norway).
Ken

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About Ken

My passion is helping people to get the most out of their mobile phone. I've been blogging at Ken's Tech Tips since 2005.

Aside from writing about mobile technology, I have an interest in software development, digital marketing and physics. Outside of the blog, I work with numerous technology companies helping them to market their product to consumers. Find out more.